Video Tour, Cinematic Video or SpeedSell? Choosing the Right Listing Video

"Should we do video?" is really three questions, because RealtyShot offers three different kinds of listing video. Each one suits a different listing, a different budget and a different way of marketing. The most common video mistake we see is a mismatch: a produced film on a listing that needed a quick social clip, or a photo-based clip on a home whose selling point is how the spaces connect.

Video Tour: the filmed walkthrough

A Video Tour is a walkthrough video with music, filmed at the property. It shows how rooms connect and gives buyers a sense of scale and flow that photos can't.

• Best for: most homes where layout and flow matter, including townhomes, family homes and larger condos
• Where it shines: property webpages, YouTube, and cut-downs for reels
• Options: an Agent Intro if you want to present the home on camera, and a second aspect ratio (a reel version) for vertical social posts
• It's currently part of the Elite package

A Video Tour answers the question a gallery can't: "If I walk in the front door, what do I see next?"

Cinematic Video: the production

Cinematic Video is a cinematic walkthrough with music, a more produced style for homes where atmosphere is the selling point: view homes, architectural homes and luxury listings. The same Agent Intro and reel-version options are available.

• Best for: homes that sell on feeling as much as function
• Pairs with: twilight photos and drone aerials for a complete high-end presentation (run the drone aerials test first)
• Watch out for: a style that promises more than the home delivers. If the showing feels ordinary after a dramatic film, buyers notice.

SpeedSell Video: motion from your photos

SpeedSell Video is generated with AI from the listing photos. There's no filming, it's budget-friendly, and it gives you something moving to post on launch day. It runs about a minute, with an optional voiceover.

• Best for: condos and smaller listings, and realtors who post every listing to social media
• Limits: it's built from stills, so it can't show real movement between spaces or anything the photos didn't capture
• It's currently part of the Boost package

Because it comes from the photos, SpeedSell is only as good as the photography behind it. Bright, well-composed HDR photos make a better SpeedSell.

How the three compare

• Filmed at the home: Video Tour and Cinematic Video are; SpeedSell is built from your photos
• Shows real flow between rooms: Video Tour and Cinematic Video
• Style: Video Tour is a clear walkthrough, Cinematic Video is produced and atmospheric, SpeedSell is quick and social-first
• Extra time at the shoot: needed for both filmed options; none for SpeedSell

Quick decision guide

• Condo, tight budget, social-first: SpeedSell
• Townhome or family home where flow matters: Video Tour
• Home with a suite or several levels: Video Tour, paired with a Floor View Tour so buyers can place each clip
• View, luxury or design-led home: Cinematic Video
• Vacant home: think about whether a walkthrough of empty rooms helps. Staged photos and a floor plan may carry the scale better.

Preparing the home for filming

Video is less forgiving than photos. A photographer can choose an angle that leaves out a laundry basket; a walkthrough moves through the whole room.

1. Prepare every room on the route, including hallways, any closets you want opened and the garage.
2. Turn on every light and open blinds evenly.
3. Clear counters completely, not just mostly.
4. Take pets, cars and people out of the home and driveway for the shoot.
5. Tell us the two or three features the video must show, so the route is planned around them.

Using the video after launch

1. Lead with the best space, not the front door.
2. Make a vertical cut for social and keep the full version on the webpage.
3. Pair video with a floor plan or Floor View Tour so buyers can place what they saw.
4. Post it on YouTube with the neighbourhood and home type in the title.

For more ways to stretch one video across two weeks of posts, see repurposing listing media for social.

What no video can fix

Video amplifies the home as it is. It won't hide a dated kitchen, a busy road or a small bedroom, and editing around those problems only moves the disappointment to the showing. If the home has an obvious weakness, show it honestly and let the video sell the strengths around it. Buyers who arrive already knowing the trade-offs tend to be the serious ones.

Local examples

Our local posts show how video plays out in practice: Yaletown condos, Metrotown condos, Richmond condos and Ladner heritage homes.

The right video is the one that shows what this home's buyers most need to see. Start there, and the choice between the three gets easy.